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Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Anna Reviews: Her Rebel Heart

See below for how you can win a FREE COPY of Her Rebel Heart!

Winner will be drawn on the 20th August

There’s a knack to writing historical
romances. Somehow, the author must balance the historical context with the
romantic content, this so as to please both those readers who first and
foremost want a love story as well as those whose focus is on the historical aspects
of the story.

This reader happens to be something of a
sucker for a good love story – but not at the expense of historical accuracy. Fortunately,
Her Rebel Heart is set against a
well-presented historical background, in this case that of the English Civil
War, a conflict that not only pitted king and parliament against each other,
but also saw families torn apart as some held with the king, others with
parliament.

Deliverance Felton is the daughter of a man
with Parliamentarian ideas, and so when war breaks out, Sir John sides with
Parliament against his king. When the book opens, Sir John is trapped in
Gloucester, and left leading the defence of Sir John’s own castle, Kinton Lacy,
is his eldest daughter, Deliverance. So far, Deliverance has mostly been a
disappointment to Sir John. Unfashionably dark in looks, uninterested in her
appearance, his eldest daughter lacks in decorum and the polish required to
attract a husband. Not so pretty Penitence, Deliverance’s younger sister, who
presently is heartbroken due to a broken engagement – the man she loves is the
son of Sir John’s former neighbour Richard Farrington, now a most vociferous
defendant of the king’s rights and prerogatives.

Courtesy of National Trust

Sir John is too much a man of his time to be
comfortable leaving his daughter in charge, and so he dispatches Captain Luke
Collyer to take over the defence of his home – something that does not exactly
please Deliverance, who had hoped that with her staunch defence of Kinton Lacy
she would at last receive some recognition from a father who mostly ignores her
– or finds her a nuisance.

One could argue that Deliverance, excellent
shot, adept at swordplay, is somewhat anachronistic.

Usually, we perceive women
of the 17th century to be meek and biddable, but there were
real-life exceptions – quite a few, actually – and besides, civil war brings
out sides in people one didn’t know they had. Deliverance is competent and
intelligent, she knows her castle inside out, and her people love her,
recognising in this small petite woman a force of nature that will not back
down in the face of adversity. Ever.

Not only has Ms. Stuart invested in giving
us a well-developed female protagonist, she has taken equal care with Luke
Collyer, a man with the reputation of being a drinker and seducer of women, and
who at the age of twenty-nine has been a soldier for close to ten years, first
in the endless conflicts on the Continent, now here, in England. Our Luke comes
with baggage of his own, secret hurts he rarely shares, and when he is
confronted with this scrap of a woman who refuses to back down, he can’t quite
put a name to the emotions she inspires – beyond annoyance and grudging
admiration.

Luke and Deliverance find common cause in
the defence of Kinton Lacy. Where Deliverance is fighting for her home, Luke is
fighting for his principles, and the resulting combination is quite impressive.
But Kinton Lacy is small, it holds less than two hundred men, and how can it in
the long run, hold out against Farrington’s troops and, more importantly, Farrington’s
guns?

In between forays and skirmishes,
undercover scouting operations and bickering as to the best way to defend the
castle, Deliverance and Luke find time to be drawn to each other, a mutual
attraction that now and then explodes into fiery heat. Not, Luke believes, the
distraction he needs at present, and so he rebuffs and wounds, regrets it,
succumbs, rebuffs – well, a classic scenario of a man torn between duty and
love. And for Luke Collyer, even admitting that what he feels might be love, is
in itself frightening.

Ms. Stuart has done her research. Her
well-developed characters are complemented with accurate descriptions of the
times, both when it comes to such things as clothes and weaponry, but also when
it comes to the disturbing background offered by the on-going conflict. As
Deliverance is to find out, war is a messy business, and as tensions rise,
atrocities are committed, honour is forgotten, traitors spring into life, and
ultimately it seems Deliverance will lose everything she holds dear.

In order to be in with a chance to win a copy of this fabulous historical romance, all you have to do is leave a comment her on the blog or on our

As stated already at the beginning, writing
historical romance requires quite the knack. Ms. Stuart most definitely knows
just how to deliver that perfect blend of history and love, combining a taut
storyline with obvious writing skills. Strong descriptive prose is coupled with
good dialogue, moments of intense action are followed by passages of
introspection, and all in all Ms. Stuart delivers an entertaining read, all the
way from when Deliverance accidentally shoots Luke’s hat off, to the scene
where…Nope, not going there – future readers should find that out for
themselves!

About
the author

Alison Stuart is an award-winning
Australian writer of cross genre historicals with heart. Whether duelling with
dashing cavaliers or wayward ghosts, her books provide a reader with a meaty
plot and characters who have to strive against adversity, always with the
promise of happiness together. Alison is a lapsed lawyer who has worked in the
military and fire service, which may explain a predisposition to soldier heroes.
She lives with her own personal hero and two needy cats and likes nothing more
than a stiff gin and tonic and a walk along the sea front of her home town.
More information about Alison and her books can be found on her website.

Anna
Belfrage is the author of eight published books, all part of the acclaimed The
Graham Saga. Set in the 17th century, the books tell the story of Matthew
Graham and his time-travelling wife, Alex Lind. Anna can be found on Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and on herwebsite.